The aim of the School Owners Forum (SOF) Innovation Summit is to start a purposeful, holistic and all-Inclusive national disourse about regularizing and improving the presentquality of the Nigerian Educational Curriculum

The idea is to have policy makers from government, people from the academia and people from industries other than education come together to discuss the conformation of the nigerian curriculum to present and future expectations of the global economy from the nigerian child Since learning is for productivity and not just mere activity that ends in the school

The National Curriculum Conference of 1969 sure achieved some strides. It was not for educationists alone

It comprised organizations such as religious bodies, teachers associations, professionals in the medical, legal and engineering sector, administrators, ministries officials, businessmen, government officials and youth clubs

The result: In 1973, a seminar was organized on ‘A National Policy on Education’ , chaired by Chief S.O Adebo.

The outcome was the modification of the 1969 papers and adoption of the National Policy On Education

Also, a product of this seminar was the 6-3-3-4 system with level by level objectives as clearly stated in the national policy on education

This marked the end of an age long colonial domination ofour curriculum

It gave an African touch to our educational system

The National Policy On Education has sincebeen revised severally with the recent edition clearly stating the Nations Philosophy ofeducationBut now, we observe a vacuum

One thing is missing

The new global trend is to prepare children not just for the jobs of the now, but for the jobs of the future

Our children are obviously not beingadequatelyequipped for the jobs of today, needless to say, those of tomorrow

We need to be careful!The future will arrive much earlier from today, than today arrived from yesterday

Tomorrow, Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics otherwise known as STEM, will replace Arithmetics And Science

Very soon, there will be no more petrol attendants and by extension, oil workers because oil will finish

Very soon, there will be no more traders in the market as online shopping will overtake themVery soon (or even now), machines will diagnose people and prescribe drugsAlready, machines are taking over manufacturing and almost every real sector through robotics, and artificial intelligence

Already, people are riding driverless carsButas technology increases, knowledge will increase, and more smarter, teachers will beneeded than ever

Big question: is our curriculum rich enough to handle these good problems of the future? Even where it is, are the delivery techniques in line with global trends?The emphasis of Education and its Curriculum needs to be shifted more from acquisition of knowledge to application of that knowledge and collaboration as early as possible, as the children journey through the curriculum

If innovation is defined as the process of making changes to something established, by introducing something new and radically applying incremental changes to products, processes and services, then the nigerian curriculum needs an innovative outlook

SOF, recommends we hold another National Curriculum Conference, 50 years after we had the last one

THE SCHOOL OWNERS FORUM SOF is an educational innovation group created to present arare repository of ideas that will push to realize nigeria’s human capital potential through education by raising a new breed of edupreneurs equipped to excel in their chosen endeavor

In just a very short period of its formation, SOF has become Nigeria’s Largest Online Gatheringof over 1,200 school owners meeting daily online for webinars, debates, brainstorming, networking and all round development

We holdmonthly Outdoor Tainingswhere minds already enriched through a very robust free online resource base meet physically to chart new courses for the Nigerian Educational Sector

SOFis an innovation group for school owners and admins.

We aim to influence a complete innovation shift into nigeria’s education sector by researching into developmental ways of replacing the existing obsolete education implementation techniques with new innovative and unique methods in line with best standards and best practices all around the world

What makes us different from all other associations of thistype is that we draw a ready-made membership from our life transforming trainings which holds every 3 weeks, where members are trained, raised and inducted to push the mandate that we stand for

In the last 6 months, we have gathered over 1,200 active participants online, delivered more than 1000 hours of free lectures and trained over 200 school owners physically in our ikeja and surulere training centres

Also, in the course of 6 months, we have trained and certified over 250 teachers spread across various schools

So as we journey from this challenging present through the 21st century into a future loaded with uncertainties and promising new problems, SOF,with this Innovation Summit, is starting the curriculum discussion on a National scale

To remind every stakeholder that there’s an issue we’re not talking about

An issue which stands to be the most foundational solution to all of the challenges facing our Nation today

An issue that will determine howsoonwewillrealizethat nigeria of our dreams

Topics to be discussed at the summit:

1 Nigerian curriculum, what went well?

2 What did we stop doing? Where did we get it wrong?

Effective application of the present curriculum to solve emerging problems of today

3 Re-tooling the Nigerian Curriculum toequip today’s children for for the jobs of the future

4 Another national curriculum conference, 50 years from the the first one. Wouldn’t ,tthat define a new future?

The curriculum summit (facilitators from government, education ministries and private sector)Curriculum fairVenue: muson centre, onikan, lagosTarget audienceA group of between 100 and 200 school owners, admins and teachers

There will also be participation from relevant government offices in charge of the subject matter, the corporate world, business and the academia,as facilitators are invited from these sectors too